Embedded C [With CDROM]

I've read several books on using C code to program the 8051 microcontroller (Shultz's [1st ed], Parab's and Calcutt's) and this one is by far the best - no doubt. I had a only basic understanding of c programming before reading the book.

This book was fantastic. Well written and organized. I think I have all the tools I need to start designing my software intelligently. I will be picking up his other book. He includes a lot of code that I found somewhat useless (it's on the CD, after all). I would have preferred to see ONLY small snippets taken out and discussed. A minor gripe. If you are going to be developing embedded code for the 8051 family of processors (or if you are new to embedded software), you need this book.

This may be the best technical book that I've ever read, and I've read a bunch. I can't say enough about Dr. Pont's accomplishment with this book. He clearly and concisely takes the reader/student through the basics of programming embedded devices. He uses the 8051 with the Keil compiler as an example platform and provides adequate code listing examples. If you're an embedded guru with decades of experience in microcontroller programming this book may not be for you. However, if you're one of us, from a computer science background, whose embedded experience comes from programming at the application level, then I highly recommend "Embedded C" without reservation.

This is a good introduction to Keil's C51 compiler. I have 1 year experience writing PIC code using CCS C compiler. My latest project is to develope 8051 microcontroller firmware using Keil's C Compiler. The documentation provided by Keil is limited and confusing, not a good one to beginner. "Embedded C" is definitely a rather good introductory book to Keil's C51 compiler. It is suitable to reader who already has knowledge of C programming. In this book, some special features and instructions are explained, such as sbit and the I/0 pin (which bother me the most in the beginning stage, as 8051 I/O is different from PIC and Motorola).Furthermore, the author also introduce the Real Time Concept, RS232 etc which differ the Embedded C with the desktop C. This is especially useful to beginner of embedded programming.

I believe the real title of this book is more like "Introduction to embedded systems programming and software design with 8051 using C". Most of the C and C++ programmers will not find anything more about the C language they do not already know. The author claims that the target audience is desktop developers with C++ and Java programming. Probably this involves a portion of this programming crowd, who have not done any low level programming and are relying on existing libraries or have very little experience. One obvious advantage of the book is its clear style. The touch of many important topics and well selected examples from very small to a decent size projects is another plus. Selecting a well known microcontroller flavor (Intel 8051) is a plus, for the specific points that could be illustrated when one has to use such a cheap and not very powerful device for a project. The choice to demonstrate the examples with the Keil development environment makes it very convenient for the reader to follow the text. For the experienced embedded programmer most topics are pretty well known and they may find the style very easy and not so rich in new information. For example interrupts are not discussed until chapter 7 and the book has 4 more chapters. The users of bigger microcontrollers ,16 and 32 bit, may find that the code does not cover some of the more complex issues they have to face in their software designs. I am mostly refering to the developers creating code for Motorola 32 bit and the ARM family. Looking forward for the forthcoming book "Embedded Operating Systems" from the same author due for publication Jan, 2004.